Ms BURNET (Clark) – Thank you, honourable Speaker, and I rise to talk about public sector pay. Last week saw three large rallies for public sector workers in both frontline and other positions held in the north-west, the north and on the lawns outside this place. I want to send a shout out to those workers, supporters and their unions. You sent a clear message to the government. Wages are not keeping pace with inflation, nor cost of living. The gap between Tasmanian public sector wages and those on the mainland is unacceptable. Conditions are often poor, causing burnout and fatigue.
The government’s offer falls well short of public expectations. Workers don’t walk off the job lightly. They are concerned that they have been in the sights of the government. Only a few months ago, in March, public sector workers were concerned of job cuts with the then treasurer Barnett’s DOGE-style Efficiency and Productivity Unit. We heard this morning Treasurer Abetz’s small government mantra which fails on all counts to meet the needs of Tasmania’s circumstances and our population.
Right now we are seeing vacant positions not being filled. We are hearing in our electorate offices of the dubious dismissals, the positions not being replaced, people being overlooked for jobs in professions where there are shortages, such as nursing and other medical professions. This all comes down to political choices the Treasurer will make when he hands down his interim budget or his first budget and subsequent budget in May.
He could extend the respect to public sector employees, the dignity of fair pay, by funding public sector wage rises and better conditions, but we know that there will be resistance to improving public sector wages and conditions because of more pressing priorities of this government. There will be no new taxes to adequately fund a functioning public sector and the government wants to build a stadium at Macquarie Point. The Macquarie Point stadium, with no cap on its price tag now well north of $1 billion. The bogus argument that this is an essential infrastructure project.
Moreover, we have the Labor Party in lockstep with the government on both these issues, effectively selling workers short of a result. This is not the way to treat public sector workers, and I remind the House that during the last parliament we saw Saputo workers in the north‑west who went on strike for a remarkable 20 weeks to secure pay parity with their mainland counterparts, eventually receiving a 21.7 per cent pay rise. This House passed a unanimous motion in support of those workers because it was the right thing to do.
It’s not only about pay. Working conditions in Tasmanian schools and hospitals are so poor that we see trained staff leaving in droves to work in other states. A one-year deal won’t cut it for public sector workers. Tasmanian workers deserve certainty and the chance to plan for the future. Public sector workers should not be taken for granted. People are still concerned for their jobs. The budget is not looking good. This is a government with an austerity agenda in mind and that will undoubtedly hurt Tasmanian workers; it will hurt Tasmanian business, and it will hurt those relying on public sector services.
My office has heard from trained nurses desperate to work in our health system, but the hiring process is deliberately made to be frustratingly slow. Meanwhile, we continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year on locum health workers and their accommodation costs. Until workers in Tasmania can imagine a future here, they can realise their dreams without the need to move interstate, we will continue to see many young people leave for better paying conditions. We are already seeing workers closer to retirement age leaving their jobs because of poor pay and conditions.
This is not reasonable. The Greens stand by Tasmania’s public sector workers who deserve respect. They deserve better wages and conditions and we therefore call on the government to negotiate in good faith.
